Miguel Angel Martínez López

City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

I hold a research interest in squatting dating back
to the late 1990s. Recently, I have been exploring the relationship between
squatting and migration. The illegal occupation of vacant buildings is usually
a hidden way to access shelter. Migrants also tend to remain invisible or are
pushed into marginality when their legal status does not enable them to enjoy
citizenship rights. These two sets of social phenomena may intersect, making
the outcomes even less easy to observe. The research I present in Urban Studies
aims at bringing to light some of the complexities of the intersection between
squatting and migration.

First, I question the conventional distinction
between the political and social dimensions of squatting. It is widely assumed
that most migrants who squat do so primarily because of deprivation. Similarly,
squatting is usually portrayed as a social action to satisfy urgent housing
needs without paying attention to the political claims and dynamics around this
practice. However, some migrants become very active in political squats, which
function as social centres where cultural and political activities are
performed. This observation requires that we challenge conventional views of migrants
and squatters and explore the issue beyond the standpoint of political
solidarity. Second, I explore the mechanisms, organisations or events that
could help illuminate the interactions between squatters and migrants. In
particular, I examine the protest cycles of urban movements in Madrid. I deploy
a qualitative methodology given the slippery, complex and stealth nature of the
phenomena under examination.

In doing so, I distinguish four major forms of
interaction. As anticipated, I show that deprivation-based squatting is not
necessarily the prevailing type among migrants. I identify forms of squatting that are more
appropriately defined according to the following qualities:

1) Autonomy – when immigrants squat alone without
the initial help of native political squatters, although some cooperation may
occur later on.

2) Solidarity – either migrants or political
squatters launch protest campaigns, actions or events in which the issues of
migration, citizen rights, police controls, etc. are the main claims at play. Both
groups cooperate with each other and the squatted spaces are used to develop
these ties.

3) Engagement – migrants participate in the
activities and the self-management of political squats, usually initiated and
run by natives, with different degrees of involvement and in different numbers
in each case.

4) Empowerment – when political squatters help
migrants to squat and they both may occasionally cohabit in the occupied
building.

I argue that these variations occur due to specific
drivers within urban protest cycles -in particular, the waves of protest surrounding
global justice issues (since 2000) and the 15M/Indignados (since 2011), which
served to facilitate cooperation between squatters and migrants. More
specifically, two key social organisations (ODS-Office of Social Rights and PAH-Anti-Eviction
Platform of People Affected by Mortgages) and their practices triggered the
interactions between migrants and squatters. I also show, despite the over-representation
of Latin American migrants, that the political squatting movement in Madrid has
consistently incorporated groups of migrants and their struggles in accordance
with anti-fascist, anti-racist and anti-xenophobic claims and practices.

The striking conclusion is that beyond expressions
of ideological solidarity or the tendency towards hidden deprivation-based squatting,
different forms of interaction have prevailed in different historical periods.
In particular, ‘engagement’ has increasingly occurred along with the rising
numbers of migrants in Spain, but also given the crucial influence of some initiatives
such as the ODS. Moreover, ‘empowerment’ based interactions were boosted by the
15M movement. ‘Autonomy’ and ‘solidarity’ based interactions remain constant
features but their capabilities, public visibility and political support have grown
in parallel with the increased social recognition and legitimation of
squatting.

An additional consequence is that the political
squatting networks have retained a relatively consistent left-libertarian
discourse of ‘solidarity’ in order to add the migrants' struggles to the range
of their concerns. However, it is worth noting that the process of mutual
cooperation was slow over the first decade and a half (1985-2000) and some
structural limitations are still at play, such as the hierarchical relations
that occur when migrants ask native political activists for help.No autonomous organisations have emerged as a
consequence of these interactions. Language
barriers tend to distance migrants from struggles where natives are dominant, as
do the gender relations within some ethnic and immigrant minorities which are
incompatible with the egalitarian views of political squatters.

My research was made possible by the support and
feedback of the Squatting in Europe Kollective (SqEK), my informants, assistants
and fellow activists. Hopefully, this research will shed some light on the
problems faced by European citizens, incoming migrants and urban activists
during the current refugees’ crisis.

This
paper came out of my recently completed PhD thesis. The aim of the PhD project
was to examine the effects which private-sector led regeneration is having on
Johannesburg’s inner-city and the communities who are living there. The
arguments and theoretical positions which I develop in this paper emerged
largely as a response to what I found to be the inadequacies of the
contemporary urban studies literature to do justice to and make sense of the
changes taking place in the area.

The
research involved 9 months of qualitative fieldwork, during which 103
interviews were conducted. A broad range of actors were interviewed, including
social and private-sector housing providers, building managers, employees of
agencies financing urban regeneration projects, local government officials,
security personnel, members of the local Community Policing Forum (the South
African equivalent of a neighbourhood watch), activists and residents living in
renovated inner-city buildings. These interviews were supplemented with
participant observation, including attending practitioner workshops, planning
meetings and social events in the inner-city and participating in security
patrols.

As
the research unfolded I found that what I had initially hypothesised to be a
negative and exclusionary process was in fact much more nuanced and
complicated. The findings which emerged constantly pointed to diverse
practices, intentions, ideologies and outcomes which consistently did not add
up to one coherent narrative or conclusion. Whilst the process is
private-sector led, the state remains proactively involved; housing companies are
commercially-oriented and profit-seeking, but they still actively find ways to
provide housing for lower-income communities; making the area conducive to
upgrading and investment relies on, at times heavy-handed, private policing,
but even amongst those doing the policing there are discourses and practices
around community-building, social cohesion and inclusion; privatised and
securitised public spaces are being created, but these are creating opportunities
for people to utilise and enjoy these spaces in ways they previously could not;
evictions were rife at the start of the process and poor communities continue
to be displaced, but at the same time other marginalised and previously
excluded people are being integrated into the central region of the city.

I
explain these findings and dynamics as emerging out of the politics which
characterise contemporary South Africa and the particular lived and material
realities of the inner-city. Whilst the post-apartheid government has been
criticised for the widespread adoption of neoliberal policies and practices,
there are also concerted efforts in place on the part of the state and local
actors which serve more inclusive and redistributive ends. Despite ongoing
tensions, deprivations and inequalities, South African society has also
undergone momentous change. I demonstrate that the conditions of democratic
transition and the developmental/redistributive inclination in policy
frameworks and state projects has created dispositions amongst those involved
in urban regeneration which, whilst still retaining commercial/neoliberal
impulses, also prompt them to conceive and practice regeneration in ways which
make inclusion of the marginalised real priorities and outcomes.
Simultaneously, the inner-city is characterised by dire living conditions, poor
service delivery and maintenance standards and precarious livelihoods. Rather
than being disconnected from these circumstances, urban regeneration
practitioners have internalised them and formulate responses which are sensitive
to the difficulties which many people living in this environment face. They
therefore adopt more socially–aware and developmentally-focussed practices, even
though they remain confined within a market-based paradigm. I consequently
theorise the contradictions, ambiguity and hybridity of the process as a vernacular
approach to urban regeneration.

Through this
theorisation I try to demonstrate the importance of understanding the
motivating logics, spatial and structural conditions and agency which shape all
processes of urban change. My approach is informed by and aims to contribute to
post-colonial theory and comparative urbanism. The paper draws on the emphasis
in post-colonial theory that concepts and ideas emanating from the West are
parochial and limited in their scope. Therefore rather than reading the process
unfolding in Johannesburg as another iteration of globally pervasive
gentrification, the paper argues that it is a process shaped by the logics,
politics, competing agendas and idiosyncrasies of a particular spatial and
temporal context. But drawing on and adding to the comparative urbanism
literature, it argues that rather than seeing this case as a unique exception,
it is one which draws attention to the multiplicity, diversity and contradictions
which are shared by all urban societies. The article therefore aims to be
propositional in advocating vernacular approaches to researching and
understanding process of urban change. It is hoped that a vernacular framework
does justice to the variety which exists in all urban settings and calls
attention to the complex dynamics and outcomes which are always unfolding.
Rather than seeing gentrification or neoliberal restructuring as inevitable
outcomes of global processes, research needs to understand the particular
confluences of agendas, actions and factors which give rise to these outcomes,
or potentially prevent them from occurring. Thus although the research and this
paper tells a unique story, the aim is to understand why it is unique and, through this, to inspire other studies which
take individual cases seriously, but weave them into a shared account and
appreciation of urban diversity.

Slum dwellers in developing countries reside in
inhuman conditions with meagre access to basic amenities. There is a strong
possibility that drinking water becomes contaminated by sewerage or general
garbage. Why is it so? Is it because they do not care about living in a clean
environment or is it simply because they cannot afford to do so?

We examine these questions in the context of the
registered slum clusters of four Indian cities--Mathura, Ujjain, Jaipur, and
Ludhiana. Mathura and Ujjain are located in central part of the country and are
predominantly religious cities whereas Jaipure and Ludhiana, located in western
part of the country are more developed with wide spread business and industrial
clusters. Thus, all the four cities witness large scale migration from rural
areas in search of livelihood.Most
migrants end up residing in slums.

A primary survey was conducted by some of the
authors in the year 2006-07 in these cities under a project on urban poverty sponsored
jointly by the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of
India. The detailed data on demography, income, health, housing, neighborhood,
migration, etc. of the slum dwellers were collected.We analyzed the house prices of the owned
residential sample units using a reduced form hedonic equation to find out
which features determine the prices of residential units in slums, and in
particular whether neighborhood cleanliness plays any role or not?

The hedonic price theory is an extension of the
theory of attributes. It assumes that commodity prices are functions of the
attributes that the commodities possess and thus, by studying the changes in
the price of a product with respect to marginal change in the attribute it
possesses, one can find out the premium the consumer pays for the attribute. In
other words, by differentiating the price function with respect to a
characteristic, one can derive the consumer’s marginal willingness to pay for
that characteristic. Using this logic, house prices are considered to be a function
of structural, neighborhood and environmental features of the house, and
residents’ willingness to pay for each feature is derived from the differential
of the estimated hedonic house price equation. We conducted such analysis of
slum house prices using a set of structural, neighborhood, environmental and
legal features of the respective houses. Slums being illegal structures in many
places, features like demolition threat, whether the slum is situated in public
or private land, etc. are likely to affect house prices.We categorized these
variables as legal features. We included two features – presence of flowing open drain in the neighborhood and presence of chocked open drain in the neighborhood
as two neighborhood cleanliness variables. First we estimated the reduced form
hedonic equation of house prices and then using the differential of house
prices with respect to features having significant effect on house prices, we
calculated slum residents’ marginal willingness to pay for the specific
feature. The significant features reflect the slum dwellers’ preferred
attributes in house selection.

We find house
prices varying consistently with many structural variables – built up area, number of rooms, if having
brick wall,concrete roof, separate kitchen, attached bath and toilet, attached
balcony and courtyard, piped water connection, etc. Temporary window and doors had strong negative effect on house
prices. But only few of the neighborhood features—proximity to central business district, presence of streetlight and house being connected tosewage facility from
government showed significant positive effect on house prices. Such results
were consistent across cities. Most of the other neighborhood variables like provision of water, garbage collection, presence
of healthcare etc including presence
of open drain, both chocked and flowing, in the neighborhood showed
insignificant effect on house prices. Demolition
threat had a significant negative effect on house prices.

These results indicate that house selection by slum
dwellers is mostly being guided by features related to house quality, availability
of facilities inside the house and some basic amenities like provision of
street light or sewage system provided by the local authority. However, they
seem to be paying high prices for a good quality house even if it is situated
next to an open drain. Such results have strong implication for Indian cities,
especially with the Swachh Bharat Campaign of the Government of India. First
slum dwellers need to be better informed concerning the importance of cleanliness through campaigns which create
awareness.

Slum dwellers expect public provisioning of most of
the neighborhood facilities, but they are very willing to pay for features like
government supported sewage, street lights, and for being permitted to reside within
the city. Thus, cost sharing is possible in order to provide these facilities
and the revenue generated can be used for information campaigns to inform residents
of the importance of cleanliness.

Throughout
the UK, large-scale urban regeneration (UR) interventions are increasingly recognised
as Population Health Interventions (PHI). As complex, multi-sector programmes, UR
programmes have the unique opportunity to ameliorate health inequalities.
Indeed, there is an established evidence base on how population health
improvements can be identified as potential outcomes of regeneration
programmes. The research behind our recent paper in Urban Studies builds on
previous evidence of a positive link between health and empowerment and applies
this to the specific UR context.

The
work presented is part of a wider, longitudinal research programme in Glasgow (http://www.gowellonline.com/)
investigating the impact of UR on the health and wellbeing of affected
individuals, families and communities. Central to this on-going city regeneration
is the Scottish Government’s commitment to the empowerment for all communities,
especially disadvantaged communities. It is envisaged that as empowerment has
been positively linked to health within the other fields, investment in empowerment
as part of UR programme delivery will improve residents’ overall wellbeing. However,
currently there is a lack of evidence as to whether such investment could result
in health gains.Therefore, we sought to
investigate this.

We examined if feelings of empowerment were
associated with;

different personal/socio-demographic
characteristics;

different types of engagement
activities;

neighbourhood perceptions and resident
interactions;

physical and mental health and wellbeing
outcomes.

Our
analyses present a compelling argument for the inclusion of empowerment
promoting activities within UR programmes. Sense of empowerment was shown to
act as a positive predictor of both general and mental wellbeing, with
householders reporting a stronger sense of empowerment also reporting better
health.

However,
our work also illustrates the need for changes to current stakeholder
engagement practices. Long-term illness or disability was shown to impact
negatively on feeling empowered and speaks to other research where financial
difficulties and lack of peer interaction were influenced by long-term illness
and disability. We suggest that stakeholders should pay particular attention to
socially excluded individuals to prevent this growing sense of isolation and
adopt other working practices for engagement.

More
positively, higher satisfaction with housing /landlord services and a stronger
sense of belonging to neighbourhood, were predictors for empowerment.Householders who felt respected, had neighbourhood
pride/ identity and felt they were given opportunity to contribute to local
area decisions through feedback mechanisms also reported feeling empowered.

Our
key message is that the delivery of empowerment promoting activities shows
initial, very promising, links to health improvements and could ultimately
prove to be a cost-effective pathway for such health benefits. However, a current
lack of understanding over ‘what-works’ in sharing key decision-making
processes with communities is preventing its progress. Thus, through examining
what behaviours are linked with empowerment in an UR context, we argue that stakeholders
wishing to promote empowerment must first examine residents’ PE, their
capabilities/assets and how they work collectively. Such work future resource
allocation in the pursuit of improved and more equitable health and wellbeing
within and across communities.

Throughout the last decade Finland has been globally
known as the Nordic PISA-wonder. The country has not only been among the global
top in learning outcomes, but also particularly equal. The high share of
excellent performers has been followed by small differences between the
students; the poorest learners and schools have outperformed their reference
group in all other countries.

Our article builds on two observations: Firstly, that
the same pattern observed in education has been the defining feature of the
Finnish society, both in cities and in schools in general. It has for long been
assumed in research and policy-making that the social differences are small and
if they grow, they mainly do so by the wealthy taking off, while the tail end
of the society remains stable. Reflecting this, even the city planning
documents from the capital, Helsinki, have contained worries about new areas
becoming “too elitist”.

The second observation is that all of these observations
are now being challenged. New research has shown that the learning outcomes are
declining and especially the poorest learners are falling further behind. At
the same time, the cities are getting more segregated – not through the rising
status of the well-off areas, but a through concentrating disadvantage in some
neighbourhoods.

Our interest has been to track down some of the possible
mechanisms behind the observed changes in the cities and schools of Helsinki.
We concentrated on the role of choice – i.e. the choices people make when
moving to different neighbourhoods or the choice of school for their children –
since the effects of choice has been debated in international literature. On
one hand, choice has been identified as a possible mechanism for alleviating
segregation, and on the other, as a mechanism for fueling further segregation.

The article is based on multiple data sets, containing
statistical data and a survey on families’ location decisions, as well as data
on school choices and learning outcomes. Our analysis shows that both the choice
of neighbourhood and school choices have the potential to increase segregation. The effect of location decisions operates
through avoiding or moving out of disadvantaged neighbourhoods. School choices
also deepen the differentiation of schools. Although there are no public
ranking lists of the neighbourhood schools, the student flows are directed
systematically from more disadvantaged schools to the ones with higher
attainment level. While the average schools are not affected by choice, the
process weakens the learning results in the schools with lower initial
attainment level and pushes up the attainment level in the schools with the
highest level to begin with.

Based on our analysis, segregation – and the changing
pattern of segregation through decline – operates at by the behavior of
individual families navigating the city and its schools. Rather than
alleviating differences, choice appears to act as a driver of segregation. The observation
is particularly interesting for the theoretical debate on the effects of
choice, as the Nordic welfare context with its strong support network and
relatively low levels of ethnic and socio-economic differentiation is argued to
maximally alleviate the negative effects of social processes. The observation
can thus be assumed to be relatively robust through contexts of higher
segregation and weaker welfare networks.

About

Urban Studies is the leading interdisciplinary journal for critical urban research and issues. Since it was first published in 1964 to provide an international forum for research into the fields of urban and regional studies, the journal has expanded to encompass the increasing range of disciplines and approaches that have been brought to bear on urban and regional issues